History of the Barber Pole

Barber Pole Quackery

I have a toothache, I’m depressed, and my throat hurts. I need to see if my barber, Zeb, can get me in.

When you see a red and white striped, spinning pole outside of a haircutting establishment, with the all too fun illusion of ribbons flowing upwards as the pole spins, have you ever wondered if the colors or the pole has symbolic meaning? I would say, who hasn’t? So, with an open invitation to double entendre and eye rolling smirks I will discuss the barber pole. Hm mmm, "That's what she said." I just couldn't resist. 

                I took some time to look up the history of the barber pole in Funk and Wagnell’s, dictionary of folklore. With information hardly more than a blurb, I searched further information through various reputable sites on the web.

                The barber pole was once a plain pole that was wrapped in bloody bandages to signify a place of medical practice. It later was a pole, painted red and white, with a basin atop signifying a bowl for leeches, and a basin below signifying bloodletting. You see, way before we acquired the much wiser knowledge of ear candles, colon cleansing, the “ped egg,” and detoxification, we were silly enough to believe that the body had four humors: black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood. We also believed that the blood did not circulate in the body but remained stagnate. When there was an illness, melancholia, or if you just felt lethargic, you would go to the surgeon (in this case the barber), squeeze the pole to dilate your veins, and have some of your blood drained from your body allowing the body to make new and cleaner blood. Even George Washington took part in this. On his deathbed with a throat infection, he allowed about 80 ounces of blood to be drawn from his arm. It is not a definite that this is what killed him but it surely didn’t help. How silly they were, if his doctors only knew that they could just detoxify his body through soaking his feet or by lighting a candle and sticking it in his ear they may have saved him. Ha! What fools!

So why did the barber become the surgeon? We have to look at the 17^th Century church. It turns out that the bloodletting was originally performed by the institutions of the Catholic church. Most doctors and medical facilities were owned by the Catholic Church, and the church forbade the practice in belief that the human body was sacred and nobody should see the “dirty” parts. It didn’t take long before the practice of medical care was picked up by others, in this case by barbers.

                Interestingly enough, barbers became known for this throughout the world. They would cut hair, shave faces, extract teeth, and perform surgeries.  This seldom bode well for patients. Unclean conditions and instruments caused frequent infections. Believe it or not, washing hands and sterile medical implements are actually relatively new inventions (late 19^th century). It was also the 19^th century when barbers ceased the medical practices for the sole practice of barbering.

                End of the story? No. Even after the separation of barbering and doctoring the barbers kept the pole. The pole is symbolic of the barbering profession. Thus, who gets to use the pole for representation is cause for argument and legal battles between stylists and barbers. Michigan has even proposed legislation that only permits barber shops to use the symbolic red and white pole.

                So would I let my barbers Zeb or T.G. extract a tooth or draw blood? If there were no other facilities around, yes, I would. They seem like nice enough guys. Why not? Next week look forward to a column about catfishing lore.